How is the adoption of digital media in the Arab world affecting the relationship between the state and its subjects? What new forms of online engagement and strategies of resistance have emerged from the aspirations of digitally empowered citizens in the Middle East and North Africa? Networked Publics and Digital Contention narrates the story of the co-evolution of technology and society in Tunisia, the birthplace of the Arab uprisings. It explores the emergence of a digital culture of contention that helped networked publics negotiate their lived reality, reconfigure power relations, and ultimately redefine the locus of politics. It broadens the focus from narrow debates about the role that social media played in the Arab uprisings toward a fresh understanding of how changes in media affect the state-society relationship over time. Based on extensive fieldwork, in-depth interviews with Internet activists, and immersive analyses of online communication, this book draws our attention away from the tools of political communication and refocuses it on the politics of communication. An original contribution to the political sociology of media, Networked Publics and Digital Contention provides a unique perspective on how networked Arab publics reimagine citizenship, reinvent politics, and produce change.

Mohamed Zayani is Associate Professor of Critical Theory at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar and Director of the Media and Politics Program. His works include The Al Jazeera Phenomenon: Critical Perspectives on New Arab Media and The Culture of Al Jazeera: Inside an Arab Media Giant.

Foreword by John H. Downing
Acknowledgements
I. Introduction: On Digital Contention and Everyday Life
II. The Mirage of Progress: A Nation's Unfulfilled Promise
III. A Crisis of Authority: Offline Activism and Simmering Discontent
IV. Cyber Activism Comes of Age: Activists, Diasporas and Networks
V. The Politicization of the Blogosphere: When Diarists Become Activists
VI. The Battle over Internet Control: From the Web to the Street
VII. Mediatizing the Revolution: The Appeal of Social Networks
VIII. Post-Revolutionary Dynamics: Changes and Challenges
Appendix
Notes
References
Index